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I was able to live in Spain for three school years because of Spain’s auxiliares de conversación program. As a language assistant, I worked 12 hours a week at an elementary school from October through May and received 700€ a month and health insurance in return. Experiences vary widely in this program, but I was fortunate enough to teach at two good schools in the south (Jaén province, Andalucía) and in the north (Atlantic coast of Galicia), commute from larger cities to my schools’ villages—Úbeda and Santiago de Compostela—and travel across Spain and western Europe.

What is the auxiliares program?

Every year, the Spanish Ministry of Education receives applications from thousands of native speakers of English (primarily from the U.S., but also from Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand) and places them in public schools everywhere from the center of historic Madrid to the tiniest of villages.

Being a language assistant (auxiliar de conversación) isn’t the same as being a full-fledged teacher; instead, you’re placed in English-language classrooms to assist the native Spanish teacher with their job. Your role can be very different from region to region, or even from school to school in the same town, but usually you correct pronunciation, play games, give cultural presentations, direct activities, and generally help out in the school’s foreign language program. It’s a little different from your traditional teaching English job since there’s always a head teacher in the classroom with you.

If you’re interested in learning more about my experience as a language assistant, you can check out the following posts I’ve written on the blog:

Where do people teach?

There’s Spain, and then there are The Spains. This diverse country is broken up into 17 autonomous communities, all of which are in charge of running education on behalf of the central government. So even though the national Ministry of Education hires you, the regional departments of education assign, manage, and pay you each month. The lion’s share of placements go to Madrid, Andalucía, and Galicia.

Most people work in primary or secondary schools. Elementary schools cover both the optional infantil years (preschool ages 3, 4, and 5) and the required primaria cycles (first through sixth grade). You can usually identify them by the CEIP in front of their names, which stands for Centro de Educacion Infantil y Primaria—“Preschool and Primary Education Center.”

High schools are mostly composed of ESO—Educacion Secundaria Obligatoria (“Obligatory Secondary Education”)—a four-year program that covers the American equivalents of seventh through tenth grade. Bachillerato is an optional two-year extension for college-bound teens. A high school is called IES, which stands for Instituto de Educacion Secundaria (“Secondary Education Institute”).

A significant handful, however, work in adult language schools. An EOI—Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (“Official School of Languages”)—offers beginner to advanced courses in modern foreign languages for anyone beyond high school age.

Should you do it?

Pros:

If you’re looking for an easy way to live abroad, travel around Europe, and improve your Spanish, this program is it. The Spanish government provides you with the means to live in a foreign country for eight to nine months, your residencycard allows you to freely move about Europe’s Schengen Area without worries of imminent visa expirations, and what better way to learn and practice Spanish than in a real-world, immersion setting like Spain?

If you’re not sure teaching English is your calling, working as a language assistant—rather than a full-fledged classroom teacher—is a good way to test the waters. This real-world experience can give you an idea of what to expect in this field, and there are always opportunities to work in language academies or give private lessons on the side. Although you don’t need to be ESL-certified to apply, if you do happen to have your TESOL or CELTA, coming to Spain as an auxiliar is a low-pressure way to try out your new skills and see if teaching is what you’re cut out to do.

In this day and age, finding a decent job that pays you a living wage and offers basic benefits like health insurance can often be hard to come by. Thankfully, the 700 euros a month you receive as a paycheck scholarship is more than enough to live comfortably on provided you rent a room in a shared apartment and cook most of your meals, and the health insurance covers any and all doctor visits (prescriptions, while not covered, are much more affordable in Spain than in the States).

Cons:

Compared to, for example, the English-teaching program in Korea where they pay for your trans-Pacific flight, arrange and pay for your studio apartment, and basically take care of you, this is a very bare-bones type of deal. Apart from the contracted eight months’ pay and health insurance, the government isn’t under any obligation to help you find a place to live or a carpool to school, open a bank account, or get through the residency process. Granted, most people are lucky enough to get placed in schools where the faculty and staff welcome you and go out of their way to help you get settled—but it isn’t always the case. And if you show up speaking little to no Spanish, you’re gonna have a rough time moving here as you’re essentially on your own.

As with any move to a foreign country, there’s a fair amount of risk involved in leaving your friends, family, home, pets, partner, and perhaps a well-paying job in your career for a place you’ve never been before and where you know nobody.

Although most people have similar experiences as language assistants, the reality can vary widely from region to region, and even from school to school in the same town. Whether your school or region pays you on time, your carpooling gig (or lack thereof), your students’ level of English and motivation, and your fellow teachers’ attitudes can all play a huge role in determining how your stay in Spain will turn out—and “pueblo life,” living in the village your school is in, can be very different from a big city. Some people are lucky, and others…not so much, but how you react to (un)fortunate environments plays a major part in how your year goes.

How to apply?

The most popular post on my blog is my huge how-to post titled, “How to Apply for the North American Language & Culture Assistant Program.” First, read through the official PDF guides to the online Profex application that Spain provides first; they go through all the nitty-gritty details in this extremely idiosyncratic program. Then, search the comments thread to see if your question has already been answered; there are well over 400 comments.

Once you’re accepted into the program, you’ll need to visit one of Spain’s many embassies and consulates scattered around the globe. If the Houston, Texas, consulate is nearest to your permanent residence in the U.S., I’ve written a how-to guide on applying for a student visa there.

What others are reading:

If you’re like me, you’ve probably learned Spanish as it’s spoken throughout Latin America. Now, I know there is no one single standard Latin American accent, but there are a few things I’ve noticed when listening to Spaniards speak that distinguish them from Spanish speakers in, for example, Nicaragua or Argentina. Since living here for the greater part of a year, I’ve both consciously resisted and unconsciously picked up on many features of the typical Spanish accent. After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided there are around five characteristics that most distinguish the Spanish of Spain from the Spanish of the Americas. These five sounds, when spoken in the Castilian way, will bring you much closer to sounding native.

1) Pronounce C before E & I and Z like TH
In the Americas you’ll hear the words ciudad (“city”), cereza (“cherry”), and zorro (“fox”) pronounced as “see-oo-DAHD” [sjuˈðað], “say-RAY-sah” [seˈɾe.sa], and “SOE-rroe” [ˈso.ro]. However, in Spain, you’ll pick …

This week I’ll be going into my third week in Spanish classrooms, but even in that short amount of time I’ve picked up on the words the kiddos use to get the attention of me or the teacher I’m helping.

1) profe
Pronounced “PROE-fay” [ˈpɾo.fe], this is a shortening of the Spanish word profesor or profesora, which looks like our word “professor” but means both university professor and teacher in any grade.

2) seño
Pronounced “SAY-nyoe” [ˈse.ɲo], this is a shortening of the Spanish words señorita (“Miss”) or señora (“Mrs.”). Two syllables are always easier to say than three or four!

4) teacher
In Spain, they learn British English in schools, so they pronounce the word “teacher” as “TEE-chuh” [ˈti.tʃə]. Sometimes they do attempt the American pronunciation, but it comes out more like “TEE-chahrr” [ˈti.tʃar].

Read my Galician crash course here to get up to speed in the language.Galician is a Romance language (i.e., from Latin) spoken by about 3 million people in Spain’s northwestern region of Galicia. Although it’s most closely related to Portuguese—which is spoken south of the border—it shares many similarities with Castilian Spanish, including sounds and spelling.

If you’re planning on spending any time traveling or living in this unique corner of Spain, or walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route that ends here, even a tiny knowledge of Galician will help you get around and navigate menus, maps, etc. If you happen to speak Spanish, you’re already 80% of the way to understanding Galician, and I’m serious! Getting a grasp on the grammatical and phonological differences will turbo boost you up to 90%.